Emergency communications can be a tricky thing. For one thing, you want to be sure to protect the privacy of the victim and their family. Another consideration is that you may not know at the time you find a victim whether a crime has been committed.

When the search is conducted in concert with local police, the safe thing to do as a Public Information Officer is to defer any details to law enforcement. The last thing you want to do is to share information that the police do not want to share.

I was recently on a search with a team where the person in charge had ongoing conversations with the family of the person who was missing. These conversations were a nightly occurance, and they would (reportedly) go on for hours. Things were discussed that should be protected information, including medications the missing person was taking, and the state of mind the missing person was in shortly before becoming lost.

A staging area was set up in a parking lot near the last place that the person was seen. This staging area had two teams, but not a unified command. The reason there was no unified command is that the visiting team was the team where the person in charge had the contact with the victim’s family. He did not want to abdicate authority, or at least, that’s what he told his team. The other team was within their jurisdiction, and should have been in charge, however without establishing a clear chain of command or authority, the team members were left to ponder the pavement and contemplate the weather.

The person in charge of the first team took off, telling the team member that he would be back. He went off with a psychic. That’s the last time the team members saw the leader until later.

Ironically, the person in charge apparently decided to search by himself in an area where a shoe had been discovered the week before. Why the shoe was not catalogued or photographed or entered as evidence is probably due to the fact that it was found by two new rookie team members who had very little idea what they were looking for or how to handle clues.

In any case, the person in charge went out to review the clue (the shoe) and right where the show was found the week before was where the victim was. Unfortunately, the victim was deceased.

After alerting police and leaving the scene to reconvene and debrief, the person in charge’s phone kept ringing and ringing. He’d look at the phone, shake his head, and not answer. Eventually he indicated that it was the brother of the victim, the same person he’d been communicating with on an ongoing basis over the last few weeks with the nightly phone calls. The media had reported that the team found a person, and apparently he heard this information and wanted to know what was going on.

The person in charge continued to avoid the calls. This, in my opinion, is wrong. If he had not communicated with the family on an ongoing basis, that may be OK to not answer, however, at this point, he had established a relationship and the family was frantic for information.

What would be appropriate for him to share? The facts. No conjecture, but only what was obvious and evident, then share the way for the family to get more information, which would be through the coroners office or the detectives of law enforcement.

Understanding what is Ok to say and when it’s OK to say it is incredibly important for a PIO. Obviously, this individual did not have the background, the knowledge or the skill to handle the task.

Training a team ahead of time, with regard to who can say something and what is acceptable to share should be basic training for any search team. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Social Media has a way of making you feel sad sometimes. The posts of beautiful holidays and warm family celebrations may be more for the benefit of others than what’s true. Consider the perceptions that we have from what we read or hear, and compare that to the reality… sometimes the way things are presented are far different than what is actually happening.

For example, listening to the news can sometimes be difficult – not only due to the content, but also due to the spin that the commentators put to the stories. This summer, during a two day period, Lauren Bacall passed away. The day she died, it was also reported that Robin Williams died the day before, by suicide. The announcer who said “Robin Williams passed away” made me stop in my tracks. Not because of his death, but because of the way they utilized the English language. Robin Williams did not “pass away”, but he ended his life violently – apparently asphyxiating himself with a belt and a closet door.

I appreciate that many are and were surprised that the man we all thought of as a genius and incredible comic was anything but happy. He brought laughter to millions, yet his life was more a tragedy with depression and addiction. How sad. It’s utterly heartbreaking.

Did Robin Williams pass away

But to say he “passed away” implies a quiet passing… a traveling from this life to the next. I daresay that when someone takes their own life, it’s not a “passing”, its more a termination, an ending, a taking of the life that can never have another “act” to follow. It’s not a “passing”.

One of my pet peeves recently is the abuse of language to share information. I’m not sure whether this is because as I’ve gotten older, I am more cognizant of the power of words, or whether there is an inadequacy in our school systems with regard to teaching English? Case in point, the other day I was chatting with a friend who told me that he does not like a politician because he finds his “self defecating” humor to be offensive. Well, yes, I guess it would be. Any politician who poops himself for a joke would be offensive. But perhaps he meant “self deprecating”?

Another friend was sure that “irregardless” of something, he was going to do something. I cringed. I am sure he did not realize that the word he meant to us is “regardless”. Regardless means without regard. When you add the “ir’ in front, it negates the word, so irregardless means “not without regard”. Huh?

Ok, and then there is the person who becomes “orientated” to a new job. Really. Define that for me? I think he means he was oriented. To orientate means to turn to the East, as if in prayer… Does this then mean that every person in the new job must learn where the East is?

And just yesterday a senior staff member suggested that we “home in on our skills”. I suspect it was honing that was required, but I could be wrong. Perhaps we should get closer to them, as in homing in?

When I see or hear advertising copy that’s poorly written, I have the same response. How does copy get approved when it does not make sense?

For example, a recently launched campaign by Ryder focuses on the “ER”. What? Who put the “ER” in Ryder? Seriously… and what the heck is that supposed to mean?

Another campaign makes it seem cool to have bad manners. A young girl struts over to a lunch table at school and puts her feet up on the table wearing her brand new sneakers. And instead of telling her what a snot she is and to get her feet off the table (did she grow up in a barn?!?) the two older kids nod knowingly. Huh? If anything, that’s a great reason NOT to buy anything from this store! The store, Famous Footwear thinks their add is about confidence? Nope. It’s about bad manners!

Bad manners can also be examplified by a football team that makes a political gesture while entering the field. Just because someone can throw a football does not make that person any more of a role model or a patron of integrity than anone else. Just look at Ray Rice – the player who clocked his fiance and left her laying, unconscious in an elevator. More than likely some team will pick him up to play for them, despite the fact that the man is an abuser. Consider also the case of Michael Vic… the man who sponsored dog fights and then who winds up playing football again. Will we, as a nation, ever realize that to continue to sponsor and condone these despicable actors results in a generation that thinks this is normal… That suicide and “slipping away” may be the same act?

In any case, bad grammar, and bad marketing aside, it truly is a tragedy that a person so talented and clever as Robin Williams felt that there was no other option available to him other than to take his own life. Thankfully, this brings much needed attention to the issue of depression and mental illness. Hopefully we can help others before they take that last, final step.

Truly this was not a ‘passing’, it was a ‘taking’. Rest in the peace that you could not find while living, Robin Williams.

The holidays are difficult times for those who find themselves without family or friends. Reach out to others and invite them to spend the holidays with you, especially if you know they may be alone.

If you or someone you know may have thoughts of hurting themself, call a depression hotline. If you are not having suicidal thoughts, you may wonder if how you feel warrants a crisis call. It doesn’t hurt to call, and it doesn’t cost anything, so pick up the phone and make the call. No one will judge you, and you won’t feel like you are wasting anyone’s time with your problems. Many of the counselors are volunteers, so they do this because they enjoy helping others, not because they are being paid to do it.

Successful social media crisis mitigation begins with pre-crisis planning. No individual, organization or business entity is immune to a social media or online reputation crisis. Being prepared and understanding how to handle the situation is critical in surviving the crisis and starting recovery as quickly as possible.

Understanding when a crisis is a crisis.

A crisis is a situation that potentially could cause harm to people or property, or threatens to interrupt business, damage your reputation or degrade value.

Understanding when a crisis is happening is different than handling objections or problems as part of “business as ususal”. Typically, a crisis occurs when the information about the situation is still evolving and hence the need to create effective steps to handle information gathering and dissemination. The important part of crisis management is having an organizated plan in place to handle crisis communications. The worst thing you can do is simply respond without having a plan – and potentially you could actually make the crisis worse.

One of the saddest examples recently that I can point to is the Facebook rants of Amy’s Baking Company. You may want to read this Buzzfeed article if you missed the story, but this is an epic example of what NOT to do when responding to a customer.

Step 1. SET UP RULES AND LISTEN.
In today’s communication environment, the first sign of a crisis may be through social media. A Twitpic taken on the scene, or a Facebook post by an event attendee or shopper or consumer… only by listening and monitoring will you be able to identify that a crisis may be brewing. When the bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, the information was posted on Twitter before any of the networks picked up the story. Pictures of the possible perpetrators were captured by witnesses and participants which lead to the arrest and capture. Gone are the days of anonymity. Today, there are multiple ways to gather information an if you are not monitoring your brand and listening to what is being said, you are creating a dangerous situation. Remember the Pizza Hut worker who took video of sticking the cheese up his nose then putting it on a sandwich for a customer? If you are the owner of that Pizza Hut, you better bet you would want to know why your sales suddenly plummeted! Or even more recently, the TacoBell employee seen licking a stack of tacos? Again, the image is shared like wildfire – if you are not listening or monitoring the conversation, you will not have an opportunity to mitigate the damage or respond.

Step 2. SET UP RULES OF WHO RESPONDS.
Having the software in place is only half of the equation, there also has to be an appropriate protocol to determine who is responsible for listening and what the plan is for responding. A good rule of thumb is that the more acute an issue may be, the higher level the responder must be. If something is a small problem, it can be handled by customer service. If it is a full crisis, it should be escalated to a senior staff member. Having a response flow chart and up-to-date contact information can expedite an appropriate response to a crisis. At the very least, knowledge is power. Perhaps there is something that happened that proves unpopular with your consituency. Having that information quickly enablees your organization to be agile and responsive.

Step 3. SET UP RULES REGARDING WHEN TO RESPOND.
No matter where in the organization the authority resides, it is important to understand what an appropriate response should be, and when it should be made. This may require training for senior staff. Responding to every situation or event is not always the best thing to do. There are examples where responding would only escalate the situation and bring more attention to it. Having rules in advance takes the guesswork out of determining when to respond and what to say. For a larger organization is also stamdardisng the response so that different members of your company are all singing the same song. One of the worst situations is where people who should not be responding are sharing opinion and not facts – this can become a even greater PR nightmare. Be sure to determine who is authorized to speak and what they are authorized to speak about.

Step 4. SET UP WHAT TO SAY.
Having the legal team create some pre-approved messaging and response processes is helpful. In addition, just like a fire drill assures that prepares you for that emergency, having periodic role-playing exercises and simulated crisis is very helpful preparation for the real thing. Training for the spokesperson should focus on being able to respond in sound bytes. Just as Twitter has only 140 characters to share a message, so do the Broadcast stations have limited time to share a message. Sound bytes, taken out of context can be quite bad. Be sure to train your spokespeople to speak in sentences that are full thoughts, not bits and pieces that can be taken out of context.

Understanding where to post your social response is also important. We’ll cover that in the next article.

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